Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World’s Greatest Outlaw

"Bowden has a way of making modern nonfiction read like the best of novels . . . Killing Pablo] is absolutely riveting."--Denver Post

A tour de force of investigative journalism, Killing Pablo is the story of the vio-lent rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, the head of the Colombian Medellin cocaine cartel. Escobar's criminal empire held a nation of thirty million hostage in a reign of terror that would end only with his death. In an intense, up-close account, award-winning journalist Mark Bowden exposes details never before revealed about the U.S.-led covert sixteen-month manhunt. With unprecedented access to important players--including Colombian president Cesar Gaviria and the incorruptible head of the special police unit that pursued Escobar, Colonel Hugo Martinez--as well as top-secret documents and transcripts of Escobar's intercepted phone conversations, Bowden has produced a gripping narrative that is a stark portrayal of rough justice in the real world.

Mark Bowden is the author of thirteen books, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Black Hawk Down and most recently, Hue 1968. He reported at the Philadelphia Inquirer for twenty years and now writes for the Atlantic, Vanity Fair, and other magazines. He is also the writer in residence at the University of Delaware.